If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Accepting requests for bashing at GREENWOOD BASHPLEX in Pittsburgh PA!! Check the thread in the track buddy forum and reply there or pm

Posts

14,926

My Late Model lcg mid engine build

Well the guys at my local track started racing 1/8 late model bodies on sc trucks. Being an oval enthusiast, and seeing 2 guys battle it out door to door for 50+ laps and ending 2 seconds apart, I was hooked.

In the parking lot of the the track that night, I ordered a Slice A-3 chassis from Chuckworks Rc off of ebay for $80 shipped. I went with this because my track is a small carpet oval (70'x35'), and the mid engine setup will help the truck rotate around the super tight turns. This will also help on the off road course they setup on Fri nights as it is mostly super tight and technical. This is also a review of the Slice chassis.

The SLICE A-3 CHASSIS

First off, if you do not own a Dremel, and a drill, and do not have the ability to "massage" a few parts to fit, then this chassis is not recommended. At least on my sample. I had to custom fit a couple of parts, and they were pretty far off. Was not a deal breaker for me as most of the parts were just right, but someone that wants parts to fit perfect and everything to go together like Lego's, may incur a big hurdle or 2. I had to read between the lines a bit on the instructions also, they were adequate.

Notes on assembly

On the first step, you are to install the three chassis blocks. When I bolted them in, it seemed as though the counter sinks on the bottom of the chassis were drilled too deep, and the aluminum chassis blocks were very loose, even know the 4mm counter sunk screws were bottomed out, through the chassis, against the blocks. At that moment, I thought I was going to have to send it back. I asked another member who has this setup how his was, and he told me to let everything loose till the end. Don't worry as this is a part of the design, and permeates the rest of the conversion.
When you get all the parts together, you can crank everything down tight, and end up with a solid platform.

Your gonna have to drill holes in the back of the suspension arms to attach the shocks 2. There is no template included, so your on your own to figure out where to drill them. I used a simple plastic caliper to measure everything.

The plastic tube that went between the aluminum rear bumper mounts was way to big, I dremeled it down over a ¼ inch to fit between the alum rear bumper blocks.

One other thing is the "battery gate" as its referred to in the instructions is one of the chassis supports, bolted to the "gate". You have to remove the cap head screw from the top of the "gate" to remove the support (what I call the "battery blocker tube") to get the pack in and out. There is no mention on how to do this in the instructions.

Using an aftermarket trans:

I installed a new Hot racing full alum trans, but it is a flat motor plate setup, as opposed to the stock gearbox cradle. I had to add braces (the 2.5 Maxx links in the pics later) to reduce chassis flex in the right rear of the chassis.

Anti squat

The anti squat plate included with the slice kit,after assembly puts it at 0°. This is less than the 1.5° of stock. If you have an FLM or Hot Racing gearbox, you can properly adjust this back to stock. Using a stock trans or other trans you cannot.

If I forgot anything, I will post it later.

Anyway, this is what I finished with:

Being this is predominantly an oval car, I wanted to go with the 4pole castle mmp combo for higher rpm:

I wanted to switch back to the fine tuning possibilities of 48p gears for the track, as opposed to my 32p bashing setups. The strc top shaft/ Associated clutch setup works like a dream. Much finer adjustment than the stock slipper:

I have the pro trac suspension, and big bores as well at the ft HR sway bar installed. The links were stock trx links I had laying around:

In the pic above you can see the rear bumper and shock mount set up. This is the stiffest and most solid tower mount I have seen on any of the magnum trans 2wd vehicles.

The front top plate is super solid:

I used a slash 4x4 bell crank, modified to get stock 2wd geometry. I seen it over at URC to get the idea, but cannot find the link right now.

The Slice came with a threaded rod for the servo link, but I just used a slash 4x4 link. Its the perfect size:

Last edited by ksb51rl; 02-11-2012 at 11:58 AM.
Reason: Per OP request

That looks impressive, man I like that engine forward set up! Nice and detailed work on your part. That trans looks cool, what diff set up are you going to run in it?
Might want to insulate the antenna lead as it passes under the chassis rail just in case.
How does the balance feel to you?? What are those blue things on the trans case, heat sinks???
Sweet

Accepting requests for bashing at GREENWOOD BASHPLEX in Pittsburgh PA!! Check the thread in the track buddy forum and reply there or pm

Posts

14,926

Open diff so far, as the track is so tight. The chassis edges are rounded, and the antenna wire is not tight so I think it will be fine. I will not get to drive it til Sun on the oval. Dont have a LM body yet, o I will run it in mod sc, sand yes those are heat sinks.

Nice. Can't you run the battery mounted on the side of the chassis? I saw it mounted that way in one of the pics on the ebay listing for the chassis (of course it looks like it sold now). Get that moved and it should be a purebred left turning machine.

Looks great, but reaching that point where its hard to call it a Slash!

I was going to say something about anti-squat, since I remember that being an issue a while back with these mid motor builds, but I guess this chasis figured that out. Its a thin shim under the transmission I guess? Wonder if you couldn't shim it further to get back to stock.

Accepting requests for bashing at GREENWOOD BASHPLEX in Pittsburgh PA!! Check the thread in the track buddy forum and reply there or pm

Posts

14,926

Originally Posted by bgredjeep

Nice. Can't you run the battery mounted on the side of the chassis? I saw it mounted that way in one of the pics on the ebay listing for the chassis (of course it looks like it sold now). Get that moved and it should be a purebred left turning machine.

I seen that too. There is plenty of room on the left side, just have no way to mount it there yet.

Originally Posted by Slick_Whip

is the new slipper really that much better?

It is more consistent. It holds its setting better than the stock one, and the threads on the strc top gear are finer to give you a better, more minute range of adjustment. The spur gear is a disk instead of a bowl, and does not distort. I would not use it on 3s, because when I tested it on 2s in my MT, with a loose setting, it got HOT quickly.

Originally Posted by ducati777

Looks great, but reaching that point where its hard to call it a Slash!

I was going to say something about anti-squat, since I remember that being an issue a while back with these mid motor builds, but I guess this chasis figured that out.aking e Its a thin shim under the transmission I guess? Wonder if you couldn't shim it further to get back to stock.

Not much original parts left thats for sure, but I am going up against good racers with race trucks so...

With that trans I can just just switch the rear arm mounts from side to side to get the squat back, but forgot to do it during the build. Gonna try the truck as is then start tweaking.

Accepting requests for bashing at GREENWOOD BASHPLEX in Pittsburgh PA!! Check the thread in the track buddy forum and reply there or pm

Posts

14,926

Originally Posted by ducati777

I keep just staring at the pics.... so much to look at on this truck....

Yeah it looks a little cluttered to me. I used that center brace to take up the slack on both the servo and esc. Need to clean that up, but I like that I can just unwind the esc wire for the castle link.
Those braces are not doing much with the rt rear chassis flex, but I have an idea that I will try next week. The chassis plate is 2mm, while all the other fiberglass is 3mm. With a stock trans "cradle" that flex will be gone. I will run it without the braces in the morning. I also have a lot of setup to work out and the track just changed Sunday hours. I get a ½ hour less before the qualifiers start for tuning. My goals tomorrow:

#1, dont break it!
2, get it around the track.
3, dont overheat the motor.

I am running in mod sc(my late model body just got ordered from "stalkerrc.com")

Will post pics of that sc body mounted after the race when I get a chance.

Accepting requests for bashing at GREENWOOD BASHPLEX in Pittsburgh PA!! Check the thread in the track buddy forum and reply there or pm

Posts

14,926

I am very, very happy how everything went, surpassed all goals, qualified and placed 3rd in the A behind 2 sc10's. I forgot my pinions, and was undergeared (both the tires and 4600kv were 95° after the main!) I know I could have got second with taller gearing.

I also got my late model body for $20 off a guy at the track!!!!!!!! So So Happy!

The Slice A-3 ROCKS on a smooth, small track.

I will get pics up of the lm body as soon as I can.

YAAAYYY!

EDIT: My driving was the low point of the day, and ironically that was a good thing...

Congrats man that sounds like fun!
That body is cool looking, those were some fancy wheels the original owner had!
Nice to hear the hardware held up and you finished third but had room to gear up and go next time out. How many cars run at once?
Sweeeet! And wow on the chassis, finished product is one to be proud of for sure

Accepting requests for bashing at GREENWOOD BASHPLEX in Pittsburgh PA!! Check the thread in the track buddy forum and reply there or pm

Posts

14,926

Nope not 6-8, 3...
Many people went to the motorama race this w/e. Good news though, after a 2 tooth taller pinion, some suspension tuning and castle link fiddling, gained 6 laps on my best run today compared to last week with a lighter sc body. I am about .15 sec/lap off of the fast guy in this class. Led the first 38 laps of the main after the other 2 guys tangled in the first turn, but then he ran me down. He asked me after the 2nd qualifier "are you sure thats a slash???"

Next up, moving the battery to the left side of the chassis, and a proper set of tires. I want to try a set of proline caliber m2's on slash ft offset. Thats what top dog runs(on sc10 offset) on his sc10 in both late model and sct. I am running bald suburbs m3's on protrack rims, and they are gonna wear through to the foams any moment. He is running a Tekin 8.5, and it seems my 4600 is right there with him. I am a little slower leaving the turns, but I think that is just tires.

I ran the s1 platinum baldies, but the suburb baldies were better.

Very happy with the chassis. There is room for improvement, and it is getting there already.

I am studying the pics and since so much is new to me I am a little visually confused>>>
pic#3 and #4 show a stamped 'L' and 'R' on the trans mount but they are reversed from what they should be??? Or is this intentional?

Is the differential accessible easier with this trans set up? The entire trans and motor mounting has me disoriented

Accepting requests for bashing at GREENWOOD BASHPLEX in Pittsburgh PA!! Check the thread in the track buddy forum and reply there or pm

Posts

14,926

It takes more to remove and service this setup compared to stock.

When turning the trans around for this chassis, the rear arm mounts are reversed, which changes the stock 1.5° anti squat to 1.5° posi squat, which is not beneficial to handling. The maker of the slice chassis, recognized this problem during the first version he produced around 2 years ago, when members of this forum(including me) and other forums brought up the point. This current version includes an "anti squat" plate. It should have been called a "zero squat plate" as it levels the the suspension mounts and provides a level 0° squat angle when the stock trans [or HR(or other adjustable squat gearbox such as flm is used in the stock configuration)] is mounted to this particular chassis.

Now, the HR full aluminum chassis (not to be confused with the $28 HR alum/composite trans, which does not let you switch the rear arm mounts from side to side) has the option of switching the rear suspension arm mounts from side to side (they mount to the gearbox from inside, through the side of the gearbox) to counteract the "posi squat". Everything would be just fine with switching the mounts on the HR, but when using the "anti squat plate" provided, the HR trans would give you 3° of anti squat. Not good. SO! You say, Take the "anti squat plate" out.

EEERRRRRRZZZZT! Next contestant!

The way that the motor plate of all transmissions will mount midship to the chassis "box" will leave the trans hovering 2mm in the air, above the chassis if you take out that plate! Not good in the most flexible area of the slice chasssi. Zero squat with this setup I am running has left me with a responsive vehicle and am happy with the "squat" characteristics (not noticing any rear end drop under full brake to full throttle transitions).

Sorry if that was confusing, but you asked, and that was the best I could explain the situation I have been dealing with, (and hopefully overcome) in these past few weeks.

rag6 replied....Sorry if that was confusing, but you asked, and that was the best I could explain the situation I have been dealing with, (and hopefully overcome) in these past few weeks.

I think I best stay a bit more basic for now.....I'll see what I can do with the Anza chassis for a bit more simplicity though I have a feeling that I will likely want to build up one of these someday.
Thanks for your explanation of the squat/arms/reversing/trans debocle LOL

Accepting requests for bashing at GREENWOOD BASHPLEX in Pittsburgh PA!! Check the thread in the track buddy forum and reply there or pm

Posts

14,926

Got some more pics

Sc body mounted:

Lm body mounted:

Its nice, take one body off put the other on, and I can run 2 classes.

Hacked the ft bumper to fit:

The bumper rides in the foam blocks and makes the front super solid. A battering ram basically.

LTOHHH

^^^ I had to drill 1 hole in the chassis, 1 hole in the slash battery hold down. 2 of the slice pieces relocated, and stick on 2 foam blocks. It literally took me 5 mins to convert to lto from the moment I sat down at the table. Just as easy to move back for the off road coarse.

GREAT looking truck Rag. So far it sounds like its been holding up for you, but overall what do you think of the durability of this chassis? You mentioned it was more complex to work on, to what level is it more difficult? Alot or just a little?

Sounds like it was an impressive rig as an SC truck. Did it jump more flat than a rear engine SC truck? More balanced?

Awesome job, looks like no expense spared... just the way we like it right.

Accepting requests for bashing at GREENWOOD BASHPLEX in Pittsburgh PA!! Check the thread in the track buddy forum and reply there or pm

Posts

14,926

Durability so far is very good. The jumps at my track are small, so its hard to tell the way its gonna fly big. It is very balanced. The first traxxas 2wd I ever had to reduce the steering lol. So much steering...

The guy blowing away the other trucks from start to finish with the Kyosho made the a-main at motorama 2 weeks ago. He never wrecks lol. That is my goal, and I am probably in for a big let down, but gonna set my hopes high. My first love is oval, but as you can see in the vid the track is very tight. The dna of this chassis should be just right for the tightness, and I want to see what it can do. I would like to find a way to be able to switch easily between LTO and off road configurations also.

BTW, been watching this thread and wanted to say very nice job on the build! I've seen a few build threads with these Slice chassis' and I gotta say yours is the most impressive. Nice to see you took the time to address the little issues. I've seen too many builds that have something obviously wrong with them, but yours looks right. It's worth taking the time to do the little things to make it correct. Great job and good luck keeping up with that Kyosho! That guy looks like he's on rails!